Now could be a good time to sell your home. The market is seeing something of a resurgence, with house prices in the three months to July rising 4.6% – the highest increase since before the downturn. But selling your home involves a lot more than just your own bricks and mortar.

Recent research from Ocean Finance and Mortgages, the mortgage and secured loan broker, who provide this article, looked into the main issues that might put prospective buyers off. The results? Get chatting to those neighbours and give the house a spruce-up seems to be the best advice. Here is a look at some of top reasons why prospective purchasers are turned off.

Bad neighbours

One of the most common threads throughout the responses was that people are most put off by factors that they cannot control. Noisy neighbours, in fact, are the single biggest threat to you being able to sell your house – over half of those that responded said that they would be put off by “neighbours from hell”.

Seeing past the cosmetic

The research also showed that homebuyers are pretty smart when looking at properties nowadays and can see past most of the cosmetic issues that might face them. Only 4% of people surveyed would find an overgrown garden off-putting, but a far higher 28% would be deterred if a neighbouring garden was in a mess. Control again appears to be the key factor — if it’s fixable it’s not a problem.

So big jobs that cost money are the other major turn-offs for prospective purchasers. Major home improvements such as new double glazing or a central heating system or even a general low level of repair are all factors that are warning signs to people, as they are not only costly to sort out but also can lead to higher utility bills.

Of course, you aren’t likely to put in new heating or upgrade all your windows just before you move, but you can make sure that the rest of the property is looking top-notch if you want to get the very best price.

The newly-styled Financial Conduct Authority has been sounding an alarm that others have been sounding for a long time: interest only mortgages may be leading folks down a pretty bad road. It’s not necessarily the problem of the mortgage, but really in consumer education. The truth is that the way interest only mortgages work isn’t a new thing. Many consumers are claiming that they weren’t fully educated on the loans, being told that they could have one of these mortgages to finally get into their dream home. Unfortunately, the FCA has estimated that close to three hundred thousand people have no real idea of how to repay their loan.

We’re skeptical because you get statements every month showing whether or not you’ll have enough left in an endowment policy to really pay the mortgage loan off and get a surplus check for your trouble.

There’s nothing wrong with knowing how much you can bite off in terms of mortgages. If anything, this is something that you absolutely must know. You can’t blame the mortgage product just because things change in your life. In fact, every single mortgage guide that we’ve ever published states this loud and clear — you must ensure that you’re getting your bills paid even if the market turns on you. This would be the same way if you lost your job. The electric company isn’t necessarily going to have mercy on you. They will still expect to get their money from you every single month, because they’re going to be providing you with electricity. You have to think about things like this as much as you can, otherwise…who will?

Running to the FCA because something has changed in your life isn’t going to be a good thing. For one, this is a new problem and the Authority is already slammed with calls about it. They’re going to investigate how these mortgages were sold, but we’re not so sure that the percentage of mis-selling will be as high as some are thinking it will be.Continue Reading

We hate to speak in absolutes, but if you’re really trying to get your dream mortgage, you need to make sure that you’re avoiding payment protection insurance as much as possible. Now, you might have already read the scandal involving PPI and what a terrible deal it is for consumers across the board…yet you don’t expect it to show up in your mortgage.

But it’s true — they can sneak it in there and it can really add thousands of pounds to your mortgage…without you even realizing it. The claims against PPI are growing, but mortgage lenders are still packing it in there. They try to sell it to you as being something that’s for your own good. If you were to get sick, they would step up and take care of your payments. But is that really the case? The truth is that this insurance doesn’t really protect anyone. Just when you think that you were being safely protected, you’ll find that you really weren’t getting any type of protection at all. This is something that can really be stressful, but it doesn’t have to be that way at all. You just need to make sure that you’re thinking about the bigger picture at all times. That’s the best way to really keep your mind focused on the prize of owning your own home.

You need to also think about the fact that there are other covers available for projecting you in the event of illness. Critical illness insurance is actually what you want more than payment protection insurance. The truth is that if you aren’t thinking about the future, then you could fall into a trap where you just aren’t able to cover your bills. However, payment protection insurance has so many exclusions that it doesn’t serve you anyway. You just end up spinning your wheels. It’s not something that we can recommend to you at all.

You have to think about the best path possible of yourself and your family. If you got sick, do you have a policy in place? If you’re going to think about something as serious as a mortgage, then you definitely need to think about this as well. That’s just the way it has to be, from top to bottom.

When you are new to buying a house, it can be tempting to accept the first mortgage that you are offered. However, you must make sure that you are getting a good deal.

Research

Having a look at everything that is available is really important. You need to make sure that you know the difference between the mortgage types and the advantages and disadvantages of them. You need to find out the total costs, including the administration costs and compare the interest rates. You also need to go with a lender that you trust. This will take time and a site like www.housenetwork.co.ukcan help you to see what is on offer without having to look at every single company. You can also use comparison websites, but make sure that you do not just look at one as they will not compare every single option available. Do some of your own comparison as well.

Negotiate

It is important to try to negotiate with your lender. Ask them whether they can offer you anything better. If you like one financial institution but there are cheaper prices around, then show them those prices and ask if they can match them. They may not be able to, but unless you ask, you will never know. They will not penalise you for asking, they will know that you are just trying to get the best possible deal.

Take Time

It can be tempting to try to get everything organised as quickly as possible. However, it can be much better to take your time and make sure that you look at everything very carefully first. As well as looking at the price, you need to be aware of the terms of the mortgage such as how long it lasts, how much you will have to repay, when rates might change, costs for late payments and things like that.

There are a lot of things to consider when taking out a mortgage and you will need to do your research, negotiate and take time to make sure that you are making the right choice. It is especially important when it is your first mortgage, because you will less aware of what you need to look out for and so you will need to be even more careful. You will need to make sure that the mortgage that you choose is the one that will suit you the best in both the short and the long term and so you will need to be aware of what all of your options are in order to be able to do that.

The amount of First time buyers in the housing market has risen for the first time in five years according to research carried out by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). They compared the amount of loans given out to first time buyers in February 2013 with the same month a year before and saw a rise of 17%.

This is not typical of the whole housing market though. The loans to people who moved house actually fell and the amount borrowed by movers also fell.

The director general of the CML commented on the figures, explaining that the conditions were more favourable for first time movers now and so many were taking advantage of that. He also said that he was hoping that the government initiatives brought I the budget should hopefully help those who want to move house as well.

There were two schemes brought in by the government during the budget. One was to enable borrowers to take an equity loan form the government so they only needed a 5% deposit on a property which began on the 1st April. The other scheme will involve the government guaranteeing up to 15% of a mortgage. This will be used to support £1340bn worth of mortgages.

It has been predicted that these measures will help the housing market to slowly recover and it seems that there are some early hints of this anyway. However, there have been predictions that housing transactions will go up by 7.5% in total over the course of the year and that house prices will subsequently rise by 2.1% next year and 5% the year after.

It is expected that these changes will particularly help sales at the lower end of the housing market. The predicted rise in prices could harm some new buyers though, but if they take advantage of one of the government incentives it may outweigh the effects.

Many people are reluctant to borrow money or to borrow more money which is why the housing market is so still. There may be people looking to downsize, as they do not have enough money for their current bills, but with a lot of people not interested in moving up the housing ladder at the moment, it can make it difficult to find buyers. With financial help, it should mean that there will start to be more movement in the housing market and this should have a knock on effect with more and more people buying and selling.

Shopping around for your mortgage can be a daunting process, especially if you are doing it for the first time. There are so many questions: Do I go for a fixed rate or tracker mortgage? How long do I lock in my rate for? Who is offering the best deals?

Before carrying on it is worth addressing the last question for a moment – Who is offering the best current mortgage rate? Many people often fall into the trap of going for the best rate without paying attention to things like the fees involved or whether there are heavy penalties for overpaying your mortgage when applying for their first mortgage. Pay special attention to both of these factors as it could cost you thousands if you ignore them.

A number of mortgages are offered through good national brokers but sometimes lenders save their best rates for those who buy from their branches or through their call centres. However, banks and building societies are still recovering from the fall out of the financial crisis and have tightened criteria significantly since the heady days of 2005-2007 where lenders were fighting among themselves to lend as much as they could. Nowadays lenders are, in the main, looking for borrowers with impeccable credit history and with larger deposits.

However, that is not to say you cannot get a mortgage if you have minor blips on your credit history or you have only got, say, a 10% or 15% deposit. Lenders like Aldermore and Precise Mortgages will lend to those with a less than perfect credit history and a host of other lenders will lend to those with a 10% or even 5% mortgage – albeit the number of these loans has shrunk over the past 5 years.

Regardless of whether you have a large or small deposit, good credit score or not so good, it is always worth consulting a mortgage broker. Brokers will not only be able to find the best current mortgage rate for your circumstances but have an intimate knowledge of lenders’ criteria, thus improving your chances of being approved. This is important as multiple applications for credit can have a negative impact on your credit score, which can further damage your chances of getting a mortgage.

Over the past few months, lenders have had an increased appetite to lend, mainly down to Government help in the form of the Funding for Lending scheme, which offer lenders cheap funding as long as they promise to lend money to borrowers.

In the past week, HSBC has launched a 1.98% two-year fixed rate – the lowest ever two-year fix – for borrowers with a 40% deposit. It has a large fee – £1,999, or £1,499 for borrowers with a current account with HSBC – and it is not available through brokers, meaning you will have to negotiate HSBC’s criteria yourself.

For those who want the comfort of having independent advice from a qualified broker, there have also been some good deals launched in the past week or so. Halifax is offering a 90% loan-to-value deal through brokers for 5.99%, following cuts of up to 0.5% across its range. NatWest introduced to a two-year fixed rate at 4.09%, with a £995 fee, for those with a 20% deposit, or at 4.39% with no fee.

There have also been a few products launched with just a 5% deposit, including a five-year fixed-rate mortgage at 5.59% from Vernon Building Society, but this is only available to borrowers and through brokers based within a 25-mile radius of Stockport and Cambridge Building Society has launched a series of 95% LTV products, with rates starting at 5.49% for a three-year fixed rate, with a fee of £799.

There are many reasons why you should pay out your home loan as quickly as possible. Today we’ll discuss three sure-fire ways to tackle your home loan debt.

Paying off your home loan sooner will ensure that you avoid hefty interest payments and may also unlock some equity in your property which you can then use to upgrade or purchase an investment property.

1. Make Your Repayments More Frequently

One of the best tactics available to you is to make your home loan repayments each fortnight, rather than monthly. It’s hard to understand how this method works but look at it like this. There are 12 calendar months in a year and 26 fortnights.

Therefore if you were to make your repayments each fortnight you end up making the equivalent of 13 monthly repayments each year. If you can manage to stick to a fortnightly schedule over a period of a few years, it will make a huge difference to the balance of your loan.

2. When Interest Rates Go Down Try Not To Reduce Your Repayments

When your lender reduces the interest rate on your loan, your minimum loan repayment figure also comes down. If you’ve been managing to make the repayments at the higher pre-cut levels, why not keep paying this same amount?

In doing so you will greatly reduce the life of your loan and you’ll also dodge some of the interest payable on it. If you can afford it, this tactic is well worth implementing into your budget.

3. Make A Lump Sum Payment Into Your Home Loan

If you’ve got some savings sitting in an account somewhere or you receive a nice bonus at work, why not put it into your home loan in the form of a lump sum payment?

Lump sum payments can make a big difference to the length of your home loan. Take a loan of $300,000 at a standard variable rate of 7% over a 30 year period for example. If you were one year into your loan term and you managed to contribute a lump sum payment of $1000 into it, you would reduce the overall term by three months and the total repayments by approximately $6,509. That’s a great result considering that you only contributed an extra $1,000. Imagine the impact of this tactic if you were able to make a lump sum payment every year?

The strategies listed above are all great methods you can use to reduce the life of your home loan. If you can implement all three of them you will be chipping away at the balance of your loan at a great rate. It’s also a good idea to conduct a “home loan health check” each year to monitor your progress and also to look around for other loans that may now suit you even better.